Coop moves in on Alldays - Food Retailing - Brief Article

Eurofood, Oct 10, 2002

UK convenience store firm Alldays has received an offer from UK supermarket group Coop. Alldays had been rumoured to be in talks with UK market leader Tesco and Sainsbury's, which both have recently been looking to boost their presence in the convenience sector.

Alldays has been under significant pressure from mounting debts, and its share have reached an all-tie low of 5p compared to an all time high of 600p.

Alldays has racked up debts of around 190m [pounds sterling] (302.8m [euro]) buying its franchisees.

Alldays has some 600 outlets, and acquiring its network would provide Coop with many valuable town centre locations, something which may ignite the larger players interest in rivalling Coop's bid.

A sale would bring to an end a disastrous few years for Alldays, which is now effectively owned by its banks, predominantly the Royal Bank of Scotland.

In June this year, the group reported first-half pre-tax losses of some 4.6m [pounds sterling], although turnover was steady at 500m [pounds sterling] and like-for-like sales were up 4.5%.